Adorable Creature Attacks!

Gu Qingyu jumped down, the piranha plant behind her slowly disappeared into the hexagram, it struggled constantly but it was trapped tightly by the Soul Chain. The tips of her hair were still red, and there was a reddish glow in her eyes. 

Qi Wan was dumbfounded. "Boss, what kind of monster are you..."

"I also want to know what kind of monster I am." Gu Qingyu shrugged with a dry laugh. The red in her hair disappeared and her eyes returned to their normal colour.  

 

Qi Wan patted Gu Qingyu on the shoulder. "Thank goodness you're here, Boss. Or I might be leaving the team early today."

"Nonsense." Gu Qingyu glanced at Qi Wan angrily. "You think I don't know that you are better than me."

"You can't say that." Qi Wan scratched his head. "Your power reached a whole new level today. I don't think I or anyone else would be able to single-handedly take down that piranha plant." 

He paused. "Wait, maybe except for Jia Qizhe..."

"Don't remind me of him!" Gu Qingyu said with a sad face. "At his level, he could just finish that monster within a blink of any eye!"

"True that..." Qi Wan had a sad face as well. The both of them resumed their walk to the castle. Fortunately, except for the piranha plant, they did not face any other major threats. 

 

Finally, they arrived at the castle gates. 

Qi Wan looked at the gate guarded by the flower vines and shook his head helplessly. "What do we do now?"

Gu Qingyu simply rolled her shoulders and cracked her knuckles. "What else, smash it open!"

Qi Wan glanced at Gu Qingyu, and then at himself. "Boss, that's a great idea!"

"Yeah, sure." Gu Qingyu gave a half-hearted smile and sprinted towards the gate. She was about to try to break down the gate. 

However, before she reached the gate, someone opened it. The gate opened outwards. It was too late for her to apply the brakes and she slammed face-first into it. The person was also very surprised to see Gu Qingyu. "Xiao Yu'er! I'm just going to find you!"

"Eh? Jia Qizhe?" Gu Qingyu looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you here?"

"We were here as soon as we landed, but you, where did you go?" Jia Qizhe knocked on her forehead with dissatisfaction.

 

"You're finally here, Kitten. Someone was just about to tear this place apart." Xie Zang smiled as he leaned on a large pillar in the castle with his hands crossed in front of his chest. 

Gu Qingyu rolled her eyes and said with a huff, "That's because someone forgot about me and left the beautiful me out in the wilderness while all of you were chilling in this castle!"

Xie Zang spread his hands and shrugged. "It's not my fault. The designated landing spot was this castle, but for some reason the two of you were stuck together. There was no way to separate the two of you and tear you two apart, and that exceeded the weight limit. So of course, there was some deviation from the proposed flight plan." 

"No way to separate the two of you and tear you two apart?" Gu Qingyu glared at Xie Zang with a tight jaw. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't mean anything." Xie Zang kindly pointed behind her. "You see if you look at it yourself."

Gu Qingyu reflexively turned and saw Jia Qizhe walking towards Qi Wan step by step, and Qi Wan step by step... walked into disaster. 

Xie Zang's voice came from behind. "That man right there was in a complete frenzy when he could not find you, he even tried to skin me. Finally, he calmed down and was about to head out to find you, only for you and Qi Wan to return together."

"What is this place, anyway?" 

 

Gu Qingyu knew that Jia Qizhe would not actually do anything terrible to Qi Wan. At most, he beat him black and blue, or even break a limb or two. So she turned her focus back to Xie Zang. 

On the surface, it looked like an endless grassland, peaceful and beautiful. But actually, there were hidden booby traps and monsters everywhere. That piranha plant alone was enough evidence. And, once they entered the castle, she could even smell a light whiff of floral fragrance in the air. Because Gu Qingyu was a cat demon, she had a more sensitive sense of smell than ordinary people, but even she could only catch a faint trace, so she was still not certain. 

"This is just a place where you can play." Xie Zang shrugged, he had a conniving smile on his face. 

Gu Qingyu's eyes sank. "I hope I can have a good time."

"This castle is very big, you have as much fun as you want. Just stay clear of switches." Xie Zang stroked her head gently. "Of course, don't go to the room where you shouldn't go."

"How do I know where I should avoid?" Gu Qingyu didn't remove his hand.

Xie Zang merely gave her a faint smile, and without a word, walked forward. "Please, this way."

 

Qi Wan crawled to Gu Qingyu. "Boss, save me..."

Gu Qingyu helped Qi Wan to his feet and looked at Jia Qizhe with a sullen expression. "Hero Jia, calm down..."

"You're still protecting him?" Jia Qizhe was very unhappy.

There will be dire consequences when Hero Jia gets unhappy. Gu Qingyu glanced at the pitiful Qi Wan, and then looked at the fuming Jia Qizhe. She steeled her nerves and shielded Qi Wan. "Come on, Xiao Zhezhe, Qi Wan saved me, don't be so upset with him~"

Jia Qizhe scoffed. "Save?"

He looked like he wanted to continue, but Mo Bai's presence stopped him. "Yu'er, let's go have a look around."

Jia Qizhe suppressed his rage, grabbed her hand, and walked away. She was dragged away before she could even get a word in. "Hey, hello, Jia Qizhe, slow down!"

She turned her head and blinked at Xiao Qi, then signaled at Qi Wan with her eyes, then winked at her. Good luck!

Xiao Qi blinked back. Copy that!

 

Gu Qingyu was pulled away by Jia Qizhe, and Mo Bai seemed to want to keep up. Gu Qingyu feared that these two would start another fight, she immediately shooed him away. "Mo Bai, go play! I will find you later!"

Mo Bai retreated unwillingly.

Jia Qizhe smiled with satisfaction, then gave Mo Bai a knowing smirk. Mo Bai's eyes sank and he went silent. "Don't get so cocky." Gu Qingyu rolled her eyes once they were far away from everyone. "I think we should leave as soon as possible."

"Wherever we are, it's below the ground." Jia Qizhe laughed lightly. "Why, what's wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong." Gu Qingyu sniffed the air. There was a smell in the castle that she particularly disliked, but she was also curious about what it entailed. "It's normal, just too normal, so I'm..." Suspicious.

He interrupted her before she could finish her sentence. His palm was placed on the top of her head, and he gently stroked her head. "Good then. Everything will be fine, I'm here, what do you have to be afraid of?"

"Yeah ..." His confidence brought a smile to her face. 

Yeah, Hero Jia is standing right next to me, the man who's feared by everyone, who's the best in our team and maybe even the whole world. What's there to be afraid of?

Gu Qingyu held Jia Qizhe's hand instead and walked up the stairs. "I... want to find whatever Xie Zang is hiding in this place. Although it may not be good to know too much, I don’t want to put everyone in danger... "

"I will go with you." Jia Qizhe held her hand tightly.

 

Gu Qingyu came to the first room they found and opened the door with a light push. She was ready for a fight. And yet, the room before her was full of snacks instead. 

"Wow, this is too good to be true..." Gu Qingyu stared for a while, she was still trying to process the image.

Someone knocked on her skull and Jia Qizhe frowned. "This is all that it takes to change your mind? Close your mouth and swallow your saliva."

Gu Qingyu swallowed back hard, glared at Jia Qizhe with dissatisfaction, and shut the door with an angry 'snap' before she stormed off.  Jia Qizhe looked at a random corner, smiled, and turned to follow her. 

 

Meanwhile

"We've walked around this place for so long, and I've not even seen a single scenic spot!" Qi Wan took out his own water bag angrily, unscrewed it, and took a large gulp.

Qi Yichen stood next to him and waved his fan. "No, no! The art of sightseeing is not just about visiting scenic locations, it's about visiting the scenic location in the mind. If you limit yourself to just the physical, you can never transcend into the metaphysical. You might even be imprisoned by it."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Qi Wan looked at Qi Yichen suspiciously.

Qi Yichen closed the fan and began to translate, "I am thirsty, give me your water bag!" 

Qi Wan rolled his eyes. "I rather let you die of thirst." He reluctantly threw the water bag over and murmured, "I don't know what happened to Boss..."

Xiao Qi, who was with them, tried to join in the conversation. But she caught Qi Wan's last sentence and swallowed her words. She closed her mouth slowly. Qi Wan gave her a strange look.

"Alas, Brother Murong, Brother Mo and Brother Xie are all gone. It's really boring..." Qi Yichen rested his head on his hands. "Let's have another look around, maybe we'll find Brother Zhu."

"Good idea!" Qi Wan's eyes lit up. 

Qi Yichen stared at Qi Wan for a while, and finally swallowed the cynical comment that came to his mouth. After all, there's still someone else with them, who would be hurt by those words. 

 

On the other hand

Gu Qingyu kicked down door after door, but it was either a snack or a big meal, or all kinds of makeup, headdresses, and jewelry. 

"What does all of this mean?" She slammed the door closed, it was another dud. "He's just messing with us!"

"You know too." Jia Qizhe looked at her with an elusive smile. She rolled her eyes, and suddenly, her nose caught something strange

"What's wrong?" Jia Qizhe stared at her curiously. She sniffed around. "Why is the smell here different from the rest...?"

"Clever one." Jia Qizhe said with a smile. A sword quickly formed in his hand and he threw it into the nearby wall. The sword flew right across her face, she was about to protest, but she noticed where the sword was inserted had slowly cracked. The crack in the wall widened until a tunnel opened.

"Awesome!" Gu Qingyu celebrated, and at the same time, she lamented the giant power gap between them.

Was Jia Qizhe just waiting for her to discover something?

"Let's go." Jia Qizhe rubbed her head, then squeezed her hand. Gu Qingyu nodded and entered the tunnel.

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The original title for this chapter was ‘I am thirsty, give me your water bag’, but it really seemed too vague this time, so I changed it. This part of the novel gave me major Alice in Wonderland and Bluebeard vibes so I went in that direction. Although, I would like to remind everyone that Gu Qingyu smelt flowers when she first entered the castle, and not the smell of carrion, so at least it’s not dead bodies like in Bluebeard.